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MARTIN JACOBSZ HEEMSKERK (1498-1574)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 199 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARTIN JACOBSZ See also:HEEMSKERK (1498-1574)  , Dutch painter, sometimes called See also:Van Veen, was See also:born at See also:Heemskerk in See also:Holland in 1498, and apprenticed by his See also:father, a small See also:farmer, to Cornelisz Willemsz, a painter at See also:Haarlem . Recalled after a See also:time to the paternal See also:homestead and put to the plough or the milking of cows, See also:young Heemskerk took the first opportunity that offered to run away, and demonstrated his wish to leave See also:home for ever by walking in a single See also:day the 50 See also:miles which See also:separate his native See also:hamlet from the See also:town of See also:Delft . There he studied under a See also:local See also:master whom he soon deserted for See also:John Schoreel of Haarlem . At Haarlem he formed what is known as his first manner, which is but a See also:quaint and gauche See also:imitation of the florid See also:style brought from See also:Italy by See also:Mabuse and others . He then started on a wandering tour, during which he visited the whole of See also:northern and central Italy, stopping at See also:Rome, where he had letters for a See also:cardinal . It is See also:evidence of the facility with which he acquired the rapid See also:execution of a See also:scene-painter that he was selected to co-operate with See also:Antonio da See also:San Gallo, Battista Franco and See also:Francesco Salviati to decorate the triumphal See also:arches erected at Rome in See also:April 1 536 in See also:honour of See also:Charles V . See also:Vasari, who saw the See also:battle-pieces which Heemskerk then produced, says they were well composed and boldly executed . On his return to the See also:Netherlands he settled at Haarlem, where he soon (1540) became See also:president of his gild, married twice, and secured a large and lucrative practice . In 1572 he See also:left Haarlem for See also:Amsterdam, to avoid the See also:siege which the Spaniards laid to the See also:place, and there he made a will which has been preserved, and shows that he had lived See also:long enough and prosperously enough to make a See also:fortune . At his See also:death, which took place on the 1st of See also:October 1574, he left See also:money and See also:land in See also:trust to the orphanage of Haarlem, with See also:interest to be paid yearly to any couple who should be willing to perform the See also:marriage ceremony on the slab of his See also:tomb in the See also:cathedral of Haarlem . It was a superstition which still exists in See also:Catholic Holland that a marriage so celebrated would secure the See also:peace of the dead within the tomb . The See also:works of Heemskerk are still very numerous .

" See also:

Adam and See also:Eve," and " St See also:Luke See also:painting the Likeness of the Virgin and See also:Child " in presence of a poet crowned with See also:ivy leaves, and a See also:parrot in a cage—an See also:altar-piece in the See also:gallery of Haarlem, and the Ecce Homo " in the museum of See also:Ghent, are characteristic works of the See also:period preceding Heemskerk's visit to Italy . An altar-piece executed for St Laurence of See also:Alkmaar in 1538–1541, and composed of at least a dozen large panels, would, if preserved, have given us a See also:clue to his style after his return from the See also:south . In its See also:absence we have a " Crucifixion " executed for the Riches Claires at Ghent (now in the Ghent Museum) in 1543, and the altar-piece of the Drapers See also:Company at Haarlem, now in the gallery of the See also:Hague, and finished in 1546 . In these we observe that Heemskerk studied and repeated the forms which he had seen at Rome in the works of See also:Michelangelo and See also:Raphael, and in See also:Lombardy in the frescoes of See also:Mantegna and Giulio Romano . But he never forgot the while his Dutch origin or the See also:models first presented to him by Schoreel and Mabuse . As See also:late as 1551 his memory still served him to produce a copy from Raphael's " Madonna di Loretto " (gallery of Haarlem) . A " See also:Judgment of See also:Momus," dated 1561, in the See also:Berlin Museum, proves him to have been well acquainted with See also:anatomy, but incapable of selection and insensible of See also:grace, bold of See also:hand and prone to daring though See also:tawdry contrasts of See also:colour, and fond of florid See also:architecture . Two altar-pieces which he finished for churches at Delft in 1551 and 1559,onecomplete, the other a fragment, in the museum of Haarlem, a third of 1551 in the See also:Brussels Museum, representing "Golgotha," the "Crucifixion," the " See also:Flight into See also:Egypt," " See also:Christ on the See also:Mount," and scenes from the lives of St See also:Bernard and St See also:Benedict, are all fairly representative of his style . Besides these we have the " Crucifixion " in the Hermitage of St See also:Petersburg, and two " Triumphs of See also:Silenus " in the gallery of See also:Vienna, in which the same relation to Giulio Romano may be noted as we See also:mark in the canvases of Rinaldo of See also:Mantua . Other pieces of varying importance are in the galleries of See also:Rotterdam, See also:Munich, See also:Cassel, See also:Brunswick, See also:Karlsruhe, See also:Mainz and See also:Copenhagen . In See also:England the master is best known by his drawings . A comparatively feeble picture by him is the " Last Judgment " in the See also:palace of See also:Hampton See also:Court .

End of Article: MARTIN JACOBSZ HEEMSKERK (1498-1574)
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